Credit: Mark Vandever. Public domain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced they are accepting offers for more than 3.1 million through this year’s Conservation Reserve Program Grassland Signup, the highest in history. The program allows producers and landowners to continue grazing and haying practices while protecting grasslands and promoting plant and animal biodiversity and conservation.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “This year’s record-breaking Grassland CRP signup demonstrates the continued success and value of investments in voluntary, producer-led, working lands conservation programs.”
Nationwide, this year’s Grassland CRP signup surpassed last year’s 2.5 million acres by 22 percent. So far this year, producers have enrolled two million acres through the General Signup, and more than 464,000 acres have been submitted through the Continuous CRP Signup. This means about 5.6 million acres are entering CRP in 2023, surpassing the 3.9 million acres expiring this year.
Producers can still make an offer to participate in CRP through the Continuous CRP Signup by contacting the FSA at their local USDA Service Center.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)